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A person is in Auckland Hospital in a serious condition after taking what is suspected to be One4B on Monday night.
Three other people required hospital treatment after overdosing at an Auckland club during the weekend.
Medical Association Chairperson Dr Pippa MacKay says the NZMA is concerned that all this publicity could encourage more people to try it and some could end up with fatal respiratory problems.
One4b is being marketed as a dietary supplement, but it is a variant of the illegal drug Fantasy. Its effects are increased when it is combined with alcohol or sedative medications.
The manufacturer of the party drug says he is withdrawing the product from the market even though he believes it is perfectly safe.
Mark Barlow, who manufactures One4B in a laboratory in Timaru, says there is evidence the drug causes weight loss, tightens skin and stimulates hair regrowth.
However he says while they have produced thousands of sachets of the drug and were about to move into the retail market, they are now helping the
Ministry of Health with its investigation.
The Medical Association has welcomed the Ministry of Health's move to suspend sales of One4B but wants it banned totally before someone dies.
The Ministry says it suspects the distribution of One4b breaches the 1981 Food Act, and may also break the Medicines Act.
A Timaru property, the backdrop for an Internet-order "legal high" operation, was raided by the Ministry of Health and police on Tuesday
afternoon.
Alphaware NZ, "suppliers of legal highs", had bottles of Puritech
(GHB-OH) head cleaning solution and sachets of One4b taken by ministry staff and
police.
A company spokesman told One News on Tuesday night that he supplied the
product to several distributors, including Auckland-based Outerspace, which
has been distributing the legal party drug One4b, responsible for four
hospital admissions in the last week.
Ministry communications manager Peter Abernethy confirmed on Tuesday night
that ministry staff were at the Timaru premises, and action taken was part
of the investigation into One4b. He would not comment further.
Puritech and One4b contain 1,4 butanediol, an industrial solvent. Puritech
is marketed as a record, CD and head cleaner and carries a warning to keep
it out of the reach of children. One4b is a legal version of the banned drug Fantasy, also known as GHB, or
liquid ecstasy. It is sold in New Zealand, via distributors and through the
Internet.
Mark and Kate Barlow, who run Outerspace, say One4b is safe and beneficial,
if taken correctly. Mrs. Barlow said the company obtained its product from a Timaru supplier in
liter bottles and re-packaged it in Auckland. Alphaware NZ sells Puritech in
liter bottles for $165 (including postage) and 300ml bottles for $65.
A double sachet (10 and 5mls) of One4b had been sold for $20.
The ministry stopped the distribution of One4b on Monday, and warned the
public not to take the drug. Police and the Medical Association want it banned.
Director General of Health Karen Poutasi said One4b may have breached the
Food Act and possibly the Medicines Act. If it had, its distributors were
likely to be prosecuted.
The Health Ministry investigation would look at whether the drug could be
legally sold as a dietary supplement. The latest victim of an apparent overdose of One4b was released from
Auckland Hospital early on Tuesday. The man, 20, was flown to hospital on Monday night from Piha Beach,
northwest of Auckland, in a coma after taking the drug. A spokesman for the hospital said he had been kept in hospital for about
six hours and discharged just after 1am. He was the fourth person in as many days to be
hospitalized after taking the drug, being marketed as a dietary supplement. |
